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Monday, 09 April 2001 -
Razer in serious trouble ? $comment_count ?>
Razerzone, the home page for the company which makes the Razer Boomslang, has a pretty complete explanation of the state of the company, and specifically says their parent company, Karna L.L.C., has run out of cash and "continues to explore all viable funding, alliance and acquisition opportunities". There's also an important message if you have requested a warranty replacement (almost everyone who I know that has a Razer has done so at some point):

Please note: All warranty exchanges requested up until February 23, 2001 have been shipped. If you have not received a warranty replacement unit that was requested before this date, please contact customer service at 877-razerzone. Labtec is currently processing the exchanges received since February 23rd. These units should be shipped by April 16, 2001 and then please allow one week for shipping time. We sincerely appreciate your patience.

Razer has probably been the largest sponsor of Pro Gaming since they first set up a booth at Groundzero. They sponsored the XSI and then ushered a new era by sponsoring the Razer/CPL, and they have always remained close to the community by sponsoring numerous gamers and providing a couple of complimentary Razer Boomslangs to just about anyone running a lan party. And there's little doubt their success attracted other sponsors to events since the Boomslang is the first well-known and popular product that got off the ground directly because of their endorsement of the CPL and the grass roots Pro Gaming scene.

Because of their deep involvement, their financial troubles will hurt the scene in many ways. Prizes from past tournaments may never be paid now, fewer players will be sponsored to travel to tournaments (I heard Fatality played with a Wingman at CPL Pacific), future products such as the Mamba and Razer keyboard are suspended indefinitely, and a key sponsor willing to put up major bucks for a tournament is no longer able to do so.

However this turns out for Karna, my hope from this news is that other sponsors won't shy away - Razer really did have crazy success with the Boomslang, and whatever problems the parent company had shouldn't negatively reflect on that. Razer proved that for the right products sponsorship of the CPL, big tournaments, and the Pro Gaming scene can go al ong way toward making a new product successful.